


Kindness of a Dragon

by SkyWrite



Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: F/F, Friendship/Love, Loyalty, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-08
Updated: 2014-10-08
Packaged: 2018-02-20 09:09:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2423180
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkyWrite/pseuds/SkyWrite
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It could never be, and for that, she expected anger or negligence. But the dragonborn shouldered the rejection and cared for her still, never wavering; devoted friend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"Is that why you're wearing an Amulet of Mara?"  


I regretted the slightly sarcastic edge to my words as soon as they penetrated and the wounded look crossed my friend's face. 

She composed her features quickly, swallowing nervously. "I was hoping you might want to talk about it?" Her voice was small.  


I felt the beginnings of panic stir inside. I answered as honestly as I could. "Look, you're great, really. But I just don't think that's for us."  
Her expression didn't change this time, but the pain in her eyes spoke volumes. She broke eye contact with me and looked over my shoulder, smiling gently as I continued. "I mean, especially not me. I mean... I still get chills walking past a temple, can't imagine going into one." I was grasping at straws and I knew it. She knew it too.  


But I couldn't do it. I couldn't ruin her, her loyalty, her kindness, everything that made her trust me and protect me when I deserved nothing from her. I had done terrible things in my time, despite her willingness to see the best in me. She deserves better. And... I just don't know if I could feel that way for anyone, not anymore.  


She took a breath and here it comes, the reasoning, the pleading, the guilt...  
"Well I guess I should go and put this away then." She laughed softly, still not meeting my gaze. "It really doesn't match what I'm wearing."  


It was a perfect performance, her voice didn't break, her smile was genuine.  
It was when she turned and walked towards the door that I saw her hands shake as she reached for the clasp of the amulet.

That evening, someone heard her weeping. No one at dawnguard had seen her cry before.  
I found the amulet broken in pieces in the bottom of an empty barrel.


	2. Greenleaf

When we met, her hand was bleeding.  


The sharp smell helped rouse me from my sleep. I stumbled forward, catching myself just before falling to the floor.  


Looking up, I saw a young woman, one foot forwards towards me, as if she had begun in my direction only to stop at the sight. Her eyes were huge, her expression a mixture of shock, concern, and uneasiness. She was clenching one hand in the other, blood seeping out from between her fingers. My thirst flared but my self control is strong.  


I don't much remember exactly what happened after that, but I know I alarmed her further by being unsure of the empire she described to me. I later realized this was a testament to how long I'd been asleep, and was unsettled myself.  
In the moment though, I had an important request.  


I wanted her to take me home.  


She was perplexed, we'd already discussed the fact that yes, I am a vampire; yes, she is a hunter; no, she doesn't intend to slaughter anyone willing to have a civil conversation with her.  
She tried to ask for details, but did so courteously, not demanding anything. I refused all attempts and pressed the matter of going home. Repeatedly.  


I thought she'd lose her patience with me, but no, I merely seemed to drive her further into confusion.  


After a few minutes of fruitless questions on her part, she sighed and smiled tentatively.  
"Okay. I'll take you home."  


And she did. She did everything I would never have asked her to do. She adjusted her sleep patterns so I wouldn't have to travel in the sun. When we were attacked by bandits she defeated them before leaving me in privacy to feed. She had already tried reasoning them into surrender.  


She is gentle. She is kind. She is merciful.  


And by all accounts, should not possibly be dragonborn.  


I've seen her fight. I've never seen her lose. But she does not fight with joy or eagerness. She tries to reason with people. She tries to be a peacemaker.  


She is physically small, childlike. For some reason, the wars, the twisted world we live in, has yet to harden her. She will suffer eventually for it I know, but I cannot bring myself to want her to change. She is experienced in battle, but as soulfully untouched as the greenleaf of spring.  


She rescued me from sleep. She took me home. She trusted me when I didn't deserve it. She showed me love and kindness that I deserved even less. 

She helped me stop my father. She took me to my mother.  


And she held me as I cried in the nights that followed.


	3. No Pressure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Surely it can't be this easy?

The day after I more or less rejected her proposal, I found her just outside the dawnguard stronghold, practicing with one of the new recruits. Pausing for a moment, her gaze locked with mine, and she smiled. She raised her hand and waved. I gave a half-wave back, smiling tentatively.  


Isran glanced sideways at me from where he was overseeing the morning's practice, noting that I did not approach her as I normally would have done, my uneasiness registering in what was probably his sixth sense. "Are you two mad at each other or something?" He asked in his gruff voice.  


"Does she look angry to you?" I asked, confusion tinting my words.  


He chuckled. "If she was angry, she wouldn't let anyone see it."  


I fell silent. I could feel he wanted to press for information, but eventually he just shrugged and moved away.  


That evening, she approached me, her expression hopeful. I felt my insides turn to ice.  


"Hey, I'm going to Whiterun tomorrow to check in with the Companions. Do you want to travel with me?"  


I waited, as confusion crossed her face at my lack of response. I struggled to break out of my state of shock.  


"Sure." I managed, and though she still looked concerned, a little of the cheerfulness returned to her face.  


"Okay. We'll wait til evening, so I'll probably sleep all day tomorrow to get rested up." She laughed. Then she walked away, towards the towers where her sleeping quarters were.  


Wait, shouldn't that have gone differently?  


I wondered if she were planning to spring the question again on me while we were alone. But no... that wouldn't be like her.  


Was she really willing to let me have this? Was she really willing to keep an easy friendship with me, knowing I could break her heart again at any time? How could she think of me the same way? How would I be able to think of her the same way?

Maybe it was stupid, or insensitive of me. But I asked her the following day, why, how? As we were sitting under the stars.  


She looked into the distance as she explained, a tender smile on her face.  
"I asked you because you're the most important person to me, not necessarily because I think of you in the way those who court each other usually do. You're very beautiful, but that wasn't my motivation. I care about you immensely. I want to protect you. And I would have been completely happy spending the rest of my life with you. I figured maybe we could have worked everything else out along the way."  
She turned to look at me now, her brown eyes hiding behind a thin veil of both sadness and warmth.  
"But you said it's not for you, and that's okay. I hope that I'll still be able to care about and protect you without things being awkward from now on. I hope that maybe we can still live our lives together as friends. But I'm not going to pressure you into something that would make you unhappy. I want you to be happy. And honestly I'm happy just being around you. You're my best friend, and I can live with that. I promise, you don't have anything to worry about."  


I was staring at my hands in my lap, my vision blurred. I wanted to say how much I cared about her too. I wanted to thank her for risking everything for me, for being a friend to me when I had no one. But I couldn't form the words.  


"Serana?"  


I reached out to her, and she hugged me back, her fingers stroking my hair as she murmured to me softly, in what I think was dovahzul, the dragon tongue.  


I cried myself to sleep in her arms, like I had so many early mornings before.  


And when it was evening the next day, when the sun had set and we could begin to travel again, I woke up to her dousing the fire.  


She heard me stir, and looked over her shoulder, and smiled at me.


End file.
